Barrett gingerly touched the side of his head. “I was visiting Tris on his island in Maine. Mickey Doyle, who flies Tris's private plane, tried to kill me. He faked engine trouble and landed on a lake. His bullet grazed my head and caused a lot of blood. I was rescued by a couple of fishermen from Boston. One of them happened to be a doctor. I gave him a fake name, and took off as soon as I got the chance. That's why I was doing the Rasta thing. I don't want anyone to find out I'm still alive or I will be dead!”

“Was Doyle acting on Margrave's orders?”

“I don't think Tris was behind it. He's gone ultraweird on me. He's become a megalomaniac. He's hired his own army, guys he says are around for security. But when I told Tris I was pulling out of the project after the Southern Belle sank and the orcas went crazy, he said he would put things off until I had a chance to go through some new material he'd come across. Just before he shot me, I asked Mickey if Tris was behind it. He said he was working for someone else. I don't think he was lying.”

“That begs the question. Who would want to take you out?”

“Mickey was trying to warn me against going public. When I refused, he tried to kill me. Whoever he was working for didn't want the project stopped.”

“Wouldn't the project screech to a halt if you were dead?”

“Not anymore,” Barrett said with a sad smile. “The way I've got this thing set up, Tris can direct the ships and unleash their power with a minimum of personnel and equipment.”

“Who else has an interest in seeing this scheme succeed?”

“There's only one other person I know who's got the inside track. Jordan Gant. He runs Global Interests Network. GIN for short. It's a foundation out of Washington that lobbies for many of the same causes as Lucifer. Abuse of corporate power. Tariff policies that hurt the environment. Arms buildups in developing countries. Tris says Gant's foundation is like Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Party. They can keep their hands clean, more or less, while the IRA is the secret organization that uses the muscle.”

“Then a threat to Tris's project would be a threat to Gant's goals as well.”

“That's a logical conclusion.”

“What's Gant's background?”

“He's an apostate from the corporate world. He was working for some of the same groups we're fighting until he saw the light. He's pretty much a front man. Smooth talker. Lots of oily charm. I can't picture him behind a murder plot, but you never know.”

“It's a trail worth following. You say Margrave gave you some material, hoping it would change you mind.”